China has moved to ban the advertisement of luxury items, including watches, rare stamps and gold coins, on its state radio and television stations.

In addition, from April billboards in Beijing promoting luxurious lifestyles will have to remove words such as "luxury", "royal", "supreme" and "high class" from their advertisements.

The new restrictions follow a ban introduced last October on civil servants splurging on boozy banquets and fancy cars.

Asia-Pacific chief economist for IHS Global, Rajiv Biswas, told Radio Australia's Asia Pacific the government is worried about the risk of social unrest if the gulf in living standards between rich and poor becomes too great.

Mr Biswas says there is also a public perception that China's tradition of gift-giving has been abused by politicians and government officials.